Yeovil District Hospital

Last week, I spent 4 days in Yeovil District Hospital as part of a work experience programme. This gave me some insight into some departments in the hospital that I hadn’t seen before. This ranged from time with the porters and in the linen room to the Academy to the Day Hospital and the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit. Whilst all were interesting and, as I learnt, important to the smooth running of the hospital, the areas I enjoyed the most were the Cardiac Rehab Unit and the Day Hospital. In Cardiac Rehab, I saw the importance of exercising after a heart operation for both physiological and psychological reasons – whilst rebuilding heart muscles is important, it is equally important that people doesn’t feel alone and realise that they can still do the things that they want to do. There was a great atmosphere, and the volunteers (who took me round pretending that I had had a heart operation) told me that the thing they strive for is for you to have fun. In the Day Hospital, I saw 3 blood transfusions being prepared and taking place. I was surprised how long the transfusion took and saw how the nurses constantly checked for adverse reactions to the blood.